For what ?

PURPOSE OF MECHANICAL DATA PROCESSING

During the 50s, mechanical data processing using punched cards was mainly used for statistics, accountance and gestion applications. The automation of office work found a very profitable and efficient solution in punched cards material. It consists in a range of machines working consecutively in a same workshop. Each machine is completely independant (except for a few ones that are connected, which we will discuss later). They all share those properties :

Using a base document, punched card, well established and carefully verified, usable as much as needed. It is the hard memory of data understandable by the machines.

Employing purely automatic procedures to do all the basic operations from this base document, and thus solve problems of all types.

Depending on the machine :

Organizing files for later treatment

Adding intermediate result for final treatment

Getting the final print (pay slip, stock index)

Creating a summary card relucent of a given situation, in order to prepare a new cycle (daily, weekly, monthly). The purpose of this card will be later explained in the web page “The card file”